STILL HAPPY WITH SECOND HALF

Town manager John Still thought his side were unlucky not to pick up all three points after an improved second half display in his first home match in charge ended with a draw Hereford.

The Hatters trailed to a fine individual goal from Bulls striker Marlon Jackson at the break before a dominant performance after half-time was rewarded with substitute Dave Martin’s equaliser three minutes before the end.

“I was happy that we were able to raise the level of performance,” Still told Hatters Player afterwards. “The level of performance in the second half deserved a win to be honest.

“I saw two sides of the team today. In the first half we were slow and ponderous, but in the second half we raised the tempo and that’s key to the way we’re going to play. I thought we were terrific second half.

“I’m fully prepared for the highs and lows but that was a 90 minutes of variation of what we’ve produced so far.

“I’m still sifting through the players – the objective is to get into a situation where I know what kind of performance we’re going to get every week. How long will that take? I’m not sure. Sometimes you have to take one step back to take two steps forward – but we’ll get there. Both halves today were equally important for me.

“They key is to keep laying those bricks and improve. You can’t move on until those bricks are solid. I didn’t have any expectation for the season. All I want is to win as many games as we can and get to the end of the season knowing who can take us forward.”

A crowd of 6,001 watched the manager’s first home game in charge and Still admitted he spotted a few anxious performances from his players on home soil.

“There’s a little apprehension in playing at home, I could sense that,” he said. “I told the players ‘you can’t affect what’s outside of your control – you can only control the controllables’.

“It’s a mindset. You can’t control the supporters. If everyone’s working and giving 100 per cent you’ve got nothing to worry about.

“The fans were great today, the players were clapped off – and we only drew. If you’re poor then the fans are going to moan, that’s football.

“The only way to make them happy is by putting in 100 per cent. If you’re good enough and you put in 100 per cent you’re going to win a lot of your games.”